Hey Guys it's been awhile since I posted anything on the forums! Dosn't mean I haven't been still Lurking around seeing all the great work you guyz have been doing!!!

Alright for the people who know me or don't I have moved up in the Haunt Industry in the last few years... I took my home haunt "Donovan Ville" and moved into our Downtown local mall for the last 3 years we changed our haunt name & theme to the "MALL OF HORROR" and now it's time for change!

This season is our biggest yet we have a 3 Day Major Event in the planing and we will be open for 3 weeks again Mon. to Sat. 5pm/10pm
Our new them in a Old Mine the was buried over and the mall was built on top... Our local mall is in major reno stages so our new story line works great! The idea is when then were digging in the mall the uncovered a huge sink pit! releasing the trapped souls below...lol we have a huge story line and I will fill you guyz all in I will keep this as a blog of my ideas and where we are at!

What I am looking for is crazy Old Mine/Gold Mine ideas? scares? props?
Anything that might give us some extras for the haunt, we already have many things built but looking for somthing extra lol...

When Im pondering a new theme I make a few lists. I make a list for several catagories
Elements- these are things that should be found in the envoirnment I want to create. Both things that set the mood, place and time period. In a gold mine I expect to see
old lanterns, Bowie knives, those pans, trough system for panning, mining cars, pick axes, rope, shovels. I back up as much as I can and look for things that will cement the reality Im creating. I would look at the year 1849 (or when you want) and see who was president campain posters really help set a time and they can go on a window. If you have an office then make a fake calander with the date you want.
another list I make is of sets that fit the theme. Obviously you would use the best ideas from each list. A good list of sets might start like
Mine office, Mine shaft, blacksmith area (to repair/make tools) you could rig a spark effect in there, saloon, a crystal type cavern could be cool, a cavern full of bats. Think of as many as you can and then you have alot of good stuff to draw from.
the last list I make is of characters that would fit, prospectors and such.
Im off to bed, good luck with it,
Allen H

Along the cue line you could put "missing miner" posters, they could be funny and be pic of some of your actors in costume. It could serve as an entertainment for those waiting and as a "credit list" for your cast. maybe only vets get to do it? A small reward and a bit of recognitionfor their work.
Also the term "claim jumpers"comes to mind and patrons who are mistaken for claim jumpers could expect some rough treatment. You, and your mine are also in 'bigfoot" country, perhaps his den could be located near a mineshaft?
I will post more as I think of it.
Allen H

Hey thankz Allen you always have a great answer!!! I would have got back here sooner but I had the flu the last few days wasn't good...lol anyways I have many lists and it is great you mentioned it not many people itemize things and this can help save a lot of time & $$$ down the road... My fav. idea is for the cue line giving some of the actors some shine and help to set the mood... I am looking for some good ideas of startal scares...

Here is a list of what we have... If you are interested I can explain what they are in better detail but all just some them off...

I thought I would give you guys an idea of what were working on! I am in the works of sealing the deal on witch location we will be in this year... And should know by next Mon. I am hoping on the same spot as last year, it was a huge spot and great for trafic...we ran everyday for 3 weeks with different hours...But if plan A falls through we have a Plan B....so all is good...

Also we will be building 3 sets for the theater that is in the same mall as us! We are also planing a 2 day event before Halloween...All keep you up to date...

I am looking for is those EXTRA quick scares the pops boos & bangs lol's

Also I thought I would inculde a few pics of plan A I hope we get this spot again...
All post some more updates in the next few days...

You could do some really cool endless hallway illusions that are mine shafts, that could look really neat.
A great startle that I have seen before is where you have them walk under a lower cielieng area (like 5 feet high) and an actor is above them just on the other side. Its just a doorway maybe 2ft wide but the actor gets them when they are just coming up, they feel vulnerable then so its a great scare.

Been a crazy few days!!!! we got the Keys to plan A and we are waiting for the OK to move in this weekend... We had a few things that had come up but we wre able to work around them, the location that we are supose to be in has been rented by a retail store but we were able to back up there reno untell after Halloween but we will only have 3/4 days to tare down....

here are some pics of the empty location...

I am really hoping we get the OK and can start moving in our new sets/props and everything else....

Also we just signed a deal with the theater in the mall to do a 2 day scare fest aswell as Zombie walk on the 29/30th as well for the 1st time we will be doing 2 VIP adult only nights with our local Rock station Q92 with many prizes and give aways...

so many things on the GO1 I will start posted more often as soon as we get in there and build....

This sort reminds me of the movie 8 legged freaks, May want to watch that. Perhaps My bloody valentine as well. Whenever I need ideas I sometimes refer to movies....

ANYWAYS! When an old mine comes to mind I think of the sound of a generator in the back round and sounds like the mine is about to go. Hanged mechanics lights that go throughout and dim occasionally (pretty flippin cheap! floodlight section most likely). I would think 20s - 40s time not too 1800s. Everything should be rustic and about to break if not already. You would want Webs everywhere of course and very industrial looking.